Plant biomass or lignocellulose is the most abundant renewable energy source on earth. From the viewpoints of global environmental conservation and fossil fuel depletion, the biorefinery using plant biomass as a biofuel or a raw material of chemical products such as ethanol has attracted attention. The main component in the dry weight of plant biomass is lignocellulose composed of polysaccharides, such as celluloses and hemicelluloses, and lignin. For example, polysaccharides are hydrolyzed into monosaccharides such as glucose and xylose by glycoside hydrolases, and are then used as a biofuel or a raw material of chemical products.
Lignocellulose having a complex structure is persistent and is difficult to degrade or hydrolyze with a single glycoside hydrolase enzyme. For the complete degradation of lignocellulose, in general, three types of enzymes, i.e., an endoglucanase (cellulase or endo-1,4-β-D-glucanase, EC 3.2.1.4), an exo-type cellobiohydrolase (1,4-β-cellobiosidase or cellobiohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.91, EC 3.2.1.176), and a β-glucosidase (EC 3.2.1.21) are required. In addition, it is considered that an appropriate formulation of multiple enzymes is necessary, including a xylanase (endo-1,4-β-xylanase, EC 3.2.1.8) which is a hemicellulase and other plant cell wall degrading enzymes.
When cellulose is subjected to hydrolysis by cellobiohydrolase, cellobiose which is a disaccharide is mainly produced. β-glucosidase hydrolyzes this cellobiose into glucose, which is a monosaccharide, and is therefore one of the essential enzymes for degrading lignocellulose ultimately to monosaccharides.
In the conventional lignocellulose to ethanol conversion process, high-solid loading up to 30-60% in initial substrate concentration has been attempted for the purpose of higher energy efficiency and less water usage. The enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose by such high-solid loading processes results in the high viscosity of the hydrolyzed biomass solution so that the hydrolysis of lignocellulose hardly proceeds. Therefore, for example, by carrying out the enzymatic hydrolysis process at a high temperature of 80° C. or higher using a thermostable enzyme, in addition to an increase in the hydrolysis reaction rate, since the viscosity of the saccharified biomass solution also reduces, the shortening of the hydrolysis reaction time and the reduction of the amount of enzyme are expected to be achieved. For this reason, for various glycoside hydrolases, development of enzymes that are more excellent in terms of thermostability has been desired.
Many thermostable enzymes have been obtained by cloning the genes from the thermophilic microorganisms that live in a high temperature environment and determining the DNA sequence thereof, followed by the expression thereof using Escherichia coli, filamentous fungi and the like. For example, a thermostable β-glucosidase (with an optimum temperature of 70° C. and an optimum pH of 3.5 to 4.0) derived from a filamentous fungus Acremonium cellulolyticus has been disclosed in Patent Document 1. Three types of thermostable β-glucosidases (with an optimum temperature of 55° C. and an optimum pH of 4.5 to 5.1) derived from Acremonium cellulolyticus have been disclosed in Patent Document 2. A thermostable β-glucosidase (with an optimum temperature of 80° C. and an optimum pH of 5 to 6) derived from a Thermoanaerobactor species has been disclosed in Patent Document 3. A thermostable β-glucosidase (with an optimum temperature of 80° C. and an optimum pH of 4.6) derived from Thermoascas auranticus has been disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1. A thermostable β-glucosidase (with an optimum temperature of 90° C. and an optimum pH of 6 to 7) derived from Fervidobacterium islandicum has been disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2.